Philippines intensify pig disease battle 16 Aug 2006
The Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) has intensified its
preventive measures to control the spread of pig diseases, after experts said
the porcine diarrhoea syndrome in some pig farms had killed
piglets.
To enhance the process, the
DA, through the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) created a task
force to solve these cases of diarrhoea problems. More samples from affected
areas are being collected to establish what clinical signs manifested in those
farms.
A BAI spokesman said that the task force will continue collecting samples
from pig farms to decide what measures have to be taken and whether vaccination
is necessary.
The importance of vaccine was demonstrated in the feed-back system. Here,
broth is prepared from the intestines of live affected piglets and administered
to pregnant sows during the third week of gestation. It was shown that piglets
from these sows had no cases of diarrhoea. Those that recur are those
administered later than the third week of gestation.